A seven-year-old boy narrowly escaped death after a car ploughed into his dad’s shop — missing him by centimetres.

Little Adam Ahkeem was standing behind the counter at the newsagents on Blantyre’s Glasgow Road, when the vehicle smashed through the window.

And the youngster has been praised for his bravery as his first reaction was to think of his mother, who was also in the shop.

Adam, a pupil at Ladywell Primary in Motherwell, said: “I was standing behind the counter practising my times tables and then there was a big smash and my legs were stuck and my mummy was crying.

“I was really brave, my mummy was upset but I told her I was okay.”

Adam was plucked to safety by his parents from under the rubble.

Dad Uzzy Ahkeem (32) was working in the back of the shop while his wife Nazia (32) was with Adam when the car crashed through the front of the shop on Sunday afternoon, trapping their son under the counter.

The concerned parents rushed to get Adam out of the small space as everything that was behind the counter had been thrown on top of him and some bricks had come in, trapping the youngster underneath.

Uzzy said: “Nazia is still really shaken up by it — it was the biggest fright of our lives.

“We are really lucky he’s alive. Adam used to always come to work with me and wanted to help me out, but now if you ask him he will say no.”

Adam with dad Usman in the family shop at the spot where the counter used to be.

Uzzy has had to close the shop for a couple of weeks to carry out a refurbishment. The door, shutters and shop front were all damaged. A fuse box was also dislodged during the incident meaning that, for safety reasons, power to the shop had to cut off.

Uzzy said: “Things can be replaced but lives can’t. I’m just glad my boy is okay, and that the driver is too.

“It could have been a lot worse and everyone is okay, so that is the main thing.”

Scott Wilson, whose company Scott Jett, helped board up the shop after the accident said: “If the sandstone bricks at the front of the shop hadn’t been there, Adam would be dead, without a doubt. That stopped the full force of the car. He is lucky to be alive.”

Adam, who wants to be a firefighter when he is older, said: “I got to sit in the back of the ambulance too — that was cool!”

The car hit the front of the shop.

Police were called to the incident on Sunday at around 2.15pm and closed off Glasgow Road to allow fire and ambulance to assist.

The road was re-opened at 3.30pm.

A spokesman for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “Firefighters were alerted to a report of a single vehicle road traffic collision at a commercial premise on Glasgow Road, Blantyre, at 2.16pm on Sunday, January 22.

“Two appliances from Hamilton attended, and upon arrival discovered a vehicle had collided with the shop front.

“They worked alongside partner agencies to make the area safe before departing the scene at 3.04pm.”

Inspector Scott McCarren, of Hamilton Police said: “A 23-year-old man has been charged with careless driving and a report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.”